Engineering (PhD)

A spirit of collaboration remains at the heart of everything we do and our continuing commitment to excellence in engineering is reflected in the outstanding achievements of our research staff, students and business partnerships.

Places available (subject to change)

The research degree

A PhD is the highest academic award for which a student can be registered. This programme allows you to explore and pursue a research project built around a substantial piece of work, which has to show evidence of original contribution to knowledge.

A PhD is a programme of research, culminating in the production of a large-scale piece of written work in the form of a research thesis that should not normally exceed 80,000 words (excluding ancillary data).

Completing a PhD can give you a great sense of personal achievement and help you develop a high level of transferable skills which will be useful in your subsequent career, as well as contributing to the development of knowledge in your chosen field.

You are expected to work to an approved programme of work including appropriate programmes of postgraduate study (which may be drawn from parts of existing postgraduate courses, final year degree programmes, conferences, seminars, masterclasses, guided reading or a combination of study methods).

You will be appointed a main supervisor who will normally be part of a supervisory team, comprising up to three members to advise and support you on your project.

Entry requirements

The normal level of attainment required for entry is:

A Master’s degree or an honours degree (2:1 or above) or equivalent, in a discipline appropriate to the proposed programme to be followed, or appropriate research or professional experience at postgraduate level, which has resulted in published work, written reports or other appropriate evidence of accomplishment.

For applicants whose first language or language of instruction is not English you will need to meet the minimum requirements of an English Language qualification. The minimum of IELTS 6.0 overall with no element lower than 5.5, will be considered acceptable, or equivalent.

Further information on international entry requirements and English language entry requirements is available on our international webpages.

Why choose Huddersfield?

There are many reasons to choose the University of Huddersfield and here are just five of them:

We were named University of the Year by Times Higher Education in 2013.

Huddersfield is the only University where 100% of permanent teaching staff are Fellows of the Higher Education Authority.

Our courses have been accredited by 41 professional bodies.

94.6% of our postgraduate students go on to work and/or further study within six months of graduating.

We have world-leading applied research groups in Biomedical Sciences, Engineering and Physical Sciences, Social Sciences and Arts and Humanities.

What can I research?

There are several research topics available for this degree. See below for full details of individual research areas including an outline of the topics, the supervisor, funding information and eligibility criteria:

Outline

Crime scene reconstruction is a forensic science discipline in which one gains explicit knowledge of the series of events that surround the commission of a crime using deductive and inductive reasoning physical evidence scientific methods and their interrelationships. This programme aims at investigating innovative forensic imaging techniques for producing accurate reproduction of a crime scene or an accident scene for the benefit of a court or to aid in an investigation. The programme will start from reviewing the state-of-the-art of 3D imaging techniques such as Augmented Reality and stereoscopy for creating or enhancing the illusion of depth in an image. The research will then propose innovative 3D imaging approaches based on photogrammetry theories and recent developments in remote sensing technologies for the acquisition and understanding of accurate and reliable measurements of a diverse range of natural and manmade structures including underground disturbances. The research encompasses scientific disciplines including image networks and sequences vision metrology laser scanning and range imaging as well as 3D modelling and interactive visualisation. The research output is anticipated to benefit forensic applications such as stockpile monitoring and underground abnormality detection.

Funding

Please see our Scholarships page to find out about funding or studentship options available.

Deadline

Supervisors

Outline

Fringe projection methods are widely used for 3D shape measurement due to its fast and easy to operate process. However for elevated temperature objects such as the objects in Additive Manufacturing (AM) process, current fringe projection methods are not adequate to be applied due to the thermal radiation and the colours of the measured objects which will result errors in measured images.
This project will investigate and develop a novel solution for 3D surface form measurement for elevated temperature object using 3D fringe projection technology. Fundamental fringe projection tools and coding strategy for elevated temperature object will be investigated which is essential to eliminate the errors caused by thermal radiation and colours of the elevated temperature objects. Imaging system which is working paired with fringe projection tools and coding strategy which is appropriate for elevated temperature object measurement will also be developed. Camera calibration methods and image reconstruction methods will also be explored to improve the measurement accuracy of a 3D fringe projection system.
Knowledge and experience of 3D fringe projection measurement are desired. Knowledge and experience of imaging system are preferred. Programming using Matlab and C++ are essential.

Funding

Please see our Scholarships page to find out about funding or studentship options available.

Supervisors

Outline

Wind farm efficiency is somewhat determined by turbine efficiency, which in tum depends upon wake effects. Turbines situated wholly or partially in the wake of leading turbines are severely restricted in their efficiency, according to size, wind speed and direction and spacing between turbines.
The aim of the project is to create a semi-analytical model of air flow behind a horizontal axis wind turbine, principally for use by
wind farm designers in the industry. Current models are either too crude to be of certain value or too sophisticated (or time­ consuming) to be incorporated into iterative turbine placement design schemes or software. The most common and crudest model still in use was devised in 1983.
Applicants will need a sound Mechanical or Energy Engineering background and a good understanding of the near field
aerodynamics of a horizontal axis wind turbine. The project requires a very numerate approach and a good background in applications of mathematics would also be required. For calibration and validation of the model a number of simulations using Computational Fluid Dynamics will be necessary and applicants should be well versed in this type of work, preferably using ANSYS Fluent or similar software.

Funding

Please see our Scholarships page to find out about funding or studentship options available.

Supervisors

Outline

The group has developed a system to allow a full digital audio workstation to be made accessible through the web. It uses HTML5, Canvas and the Web Audio API. This project is to understand and develop this work further to consider the following:
1. An interface for other devices (such as game controllers) to control sound synthesis and music parameters in real time.
2. The use of live image processing to control sound synthesis and music parameters in real time.
Applicants should have some experience of programming, preferably in 1 or more of the following languages: HTML5, JavaScript, Java, C or C++. Knowledge of the Web Audio API is a distinct advantage. An interest in electronic music performance or composition would be desirable but not essential.
Please note, applicants wishing to undertake this project as an MSc by Research will also be considered.

Funding

Please see our Scholarships page to find out about funding or studentship options available.

Supervisors

Outline

The research project is to develop ultra-precision manufacturing with embedded on-machine measurement system to the fabrication of functional surfaces. The machining technologies can be developed based on one of the following methods including single point diamond turning , fast-tool-servo, fly cutting and micro milling. The functional surfaces to be machined are free from and/or structured surface with various applications in optics. A typical case study will be focused on the fabrication of optical lenses. Simulation work will also be carried out in this project to find the optimised processing parameters. The selected PhD student will be trained to operate machine tools and other related measurement equipment.
The application must have MSc research degree on mechanical engineering/informatics or will receive his/her MSc degree before they start the PhD study in September. The applicant should have education background/working experience on metal cutting or control system and have publications (conferences/journals, paper/books chapter) in this research area.

Funding

Please see our Scholarships page to find out about funding or studentship options available.

Supervisors

Outline

Include any specific knowledge/experience the applicant will need. This will appear on Coursefinder.
Metal bio implants have been used for many years. Compared to the ceramic based implants metals have much higher crack resistance and never shatter. One of the problems with bio compatible metals in the load bearing applications is metal relative softness. Lately it was reported that certain alloys (Ti3Au for instance) can be much harder than a single element material. We have already shown that utilising Physical Vapour Deposition (PVD) methods we can create single element coatings which are up to 4 times harder than corresponding bulk material. Moreover, utilising parameters variation during thin film deposition and post-deposition treatments we can grade coating hardness through the coating thickness. This opens possibility within single chemistry to create coating which will allow easy run-in and then will be tough on the long run.
The PhD project will investigate nanomechanical properties such as hardness, graded hardness, stress and adhesion of bio compatible coatings.

Funding

Please see our Scholarships page to find out about funding or studentship options available.

Supervisors

Outline

The way in which temperature change affects the performance of machine tools remains an unanswered challenge. There are several instances at which machine thermal conditions inevitably change from its current state such as machining itself, environmental conditions, development of air pockets during machining, production- intermittent processes, etc. To enable Finite Element Analysis (FEA) software to match and precisely simulate these time-variant boundary conditions, an interface link must be created between the FEA software and sensing or monitoring devices to allow live feedback of data to adapt the computation.
This project aims to develop an interface link between the FEA software and external sensing devices using e.g. Python programming to enable the simulation of time-varying boundary conditions. To ensure the quality and usability of the captured data, optimisation, reduction and machine learning techniques will be developed and tested on different platforms, including high-performance computing (HPC) or graphics processing unit (GPU) accelerated computing.
The project would be suitable for a computer programmer with an interest in advanced engineering applications, or a mechanical/design engineer with good programming skills.

Funding

Please see our Scholarships page to find out about funding or studentship options available.

Supervisors

Outline

Industrial competition is characterised by the desire for better quality, cheaper in price, and shorter in delivery time. A good design becomes essential.
This project will resort to the innovative design methodology and the advanced computational quantification of the specific design leading to optimised outcome, where the thermal efficiency and high temperature strutural integrity will be investigated. Thus the project falls within energy theme.

Funding

Please see our Scholarships page to find out about funding or studentship options available.

Supervisors

Outline

Renewable energy is an essential source for harnessing natural forces such as wind energy in an age which is very conscious of the environmental effects of burning fossil fuels, and where sustainability is an ethical norm. Therefore, the focus is currently on both the adequacy of long-term energy supply, as well as the environmental implications of particular sources. In that regard, the near certainty of costs being imposed on carbon dioxide emissions in developed countries has profoundly changed the economic outlook of clean energy sources. Wind turbines have vastly been developed in recent decades due to technology becoming more advanced. Since there is a continuous exhaustion of fossil fuels, it is of high interest with government encouragement to utilise wind technology. Wind turbines are currently advancing into cross-flow vertical axis operation, whereby research has shown a significant increase in performance compared to existing technologies. The need for sustainable energy sources becomes greater each year due to the continued depletion of fossil fuels and the resulting energy crisis. Solutions to this problem are potentially in the form of wind turbines, for sustainable urban environment, that have been receiving increased support. At present, a number of wind turbines have been developed that show significant increase in performance compared to existing technologies.

Funding

Please see our Scholarships page to find out about funding or studentship options available.

Supervisors

Outline

Include any specific knowledge/experience the applicant will need. This will appear on Coursefinder.
Within the last 10 years, novel combustor design - using a new form of combustion known as 'flameless oxidation' - have been suggested for either power generation, utility boilers or aero transport application. The term 'flameless oxidation' refers to the fact that no distinct flame is visible in this mode of combustion. This research aims to investigate the way that fuel and air mix and
react during flameless oxidation in order to provide a better understanding of this mode of combustion and allow appropriate computational models to be developed to assist combustor design. Experimental and numerical tests will be conducted in model burners, which will identify the operational limits between conventional combustion and flameless oxidation and changes in the reaction process between the two models of combustion. The parameters will include air, fuel and exhaust gas recirculation flowrates, preheat air temperature and fuel type. Results from experimental measurements will be used to evaluate the performance of computational models for prediction of flameless oxidation combustion

Funding

Please see our Scholarships page to find out about funding or studentship options available.

Supervisors

Outline

The provision of cost-effective systems for meeting the distributed electricity generation needs is one of the research and innovation challenges. Here, one of the key requirements is the development of systems that would work for prolonged periods of time without the need of frequent maintenance, and ideally would utilise renewable energy sources such as solar energy. One of the possible technical solutions is the application of the novel emerging technology, with a significant future potential, referred to as “Thermoacoustic Technology”. This offers efficient energy conversion mechanisms without the need for any moving parts. This project will investigate the provision of distributed electricity generation for either industrial or domestic applications by using the coupling between a solar power driven “thermoacoustic engine” (which produces high density acoustic energy out of a solar-thermal input) and an energy converter referred to as a "linear alternator" for producing electrical power from an acoustic input. In general, the underlying thermoacoustic effect relies on the energy transfer between a compressible fluid and a solid material in the presence of an acoustic wave, and produces energy conversion mechanisms similar to those present in Stirling cycles. However, a thermoacoustic cycle is realised without expensive hardware associated with classical Stirling devices. The project will utilise an existing experimental apparatus to demonstrate the application of solar energy input for producing the electrical output in realistic working conditions.

Supervisors

Outline

This project will investigate effective models and techniques to automatically analyse, retrieve, and describe video files and its content for security and surveillance applications. It is anticipated that the research findings will facilitate the effort in content analysis, video archive management, and video annotation within the context of automated situation awareness, diagnosis and decision support. The research will focus on the extraction of structured knowledge from large image/video collections recorded over networks of cameras and Closed-circuit Television systems (CCTVs) deployed in real sites. Latest natural language processing (NLP) theories and their related computational linguistic practices, for example, Deep Recurrent Neural Network (RNN) will be evaluated for automatically interpreting key contextual information contained within a video scene, such as a crowd abnormality.

Funding

Please see our Scholarships page to find out about funding or studentship options available.

Deadline

Supervisors

Outline

Accurate portrayal of optimal system behaviours and identification of fault characteristic behaviours form the basis of process control through condition monitoring. Anomalies identified at onset may be controlled without catastrophic interference to process quality and production interruptions may be reduced or completely avoided. Continuous on-line monitoring of processes replacing scheduled time-based maintenance routines.
Multivariate modelling of system behaviour during normal healthy operation and with induced abnormalities affords tolerance setting for early detection of deviations.
Pattern recognition technologies give insight into operational behaviours from which rule based models are determined.
The aim of this project is to develop robust methodologies for online measurement and assessment of system health and operational capabilities.

Funding

Please see our Scholarships page to find out about funding or studentship options available.

Deadline

Supervisors

Outline

Current ballistic forensic imaging and matching technologies do not incorporate the latest science and technology in the field of ultra precision surface measurement, topological surface image characterisation, and forensic statistics. There is an overriding need for a technology which combines and exploits state of the art science based knowledge, and adopts new and open standards, facilitating interoperability. This project will use the latest award wining "Alias" ballistic measurement platform and build upon this a software based digital platform which will address better correlation, statistical rigor of evidence and system interoperability. Consequently this project has three key objectives:
1) New matching algorithms with Increased Investigational Speed: generation of "fast-time" evidence based information leads to help in identifying offenders and illegal guns used in crimes and terrorism leading to timely actions.
2) Providing tools to give statistical rigour in the matching of bullets and cartridges to weapons: admissible evidence in a court of law, with high standards of scientific rigour and objectivity in preparation/presentation of evidence; providing error rates and confidence levels of results.
3) Interoperability of ballistic data and integration into end-user intelligence platforms: the current lack in open standards in exchange of ballistic evidence (quality standards, interoperability, and listed sharing of information) precludes this and an open data exchange protocol needs to be developed.

Funding

Please see our Scholarships page to find out about funding or studentship options available.

Supervisors

Outline

The proposed research aims at investigating the properties of heterogeneous mixtures which are common in many industries including chemical, oil and gas, pharmaceutical, minerals, food, biotechnology and others. Characterisation of such mixtures is crucial for controlling the industrial processes as well as ensuring high product quality. During the research, suitable non-invasive and on-line measurement techniques, based on the combination of electrical impedance spectroscopy and ultrasonic transmission, will be developed. In the first stage, design and laboratory studies leading to construction of robust sensors to facilitate measurements in a selection of industrially relevant situations will be conducted. The measurements will be validated using independent techniques. The second stage will focus on modelling the propagation of the sensing fields which interrogate the mixtures and their interaction with the dispersions. The modelling will be conducted using a commercial package, FEMLAB, and will lead to construction of mathematical models predicting the sensor behaviour. (Industrial relevance: chemical, bio-technology, process, petroleum, chemical, food and drink)

Supervisors

Outline

The International Experimental Fusion Reactor (ITER, currently under construction in France) aims to be the first nuclear fusion reactor that produces more energy than it consumes. The fusion of deuterium and tritium requires a temperature of around 150,000,000°C. At these temperatures, matter becomes an ionized plasma which in ITER will be contained within a toroidal magnetic field. Nuclear fusion reactions also produce high energy neutrons and alpha particles (helium nuclei) which cause the materials surrounding the plasma to undergo radiation damage. Tungsten is currently the material of choice for use as the plasma facing armour of the divertor section in ITER due to its excellent thermal properties such as its very high melting temperature and thermal conductivity. During its operational lifetime, the material will be exposed to this harsh environment, having to withstand operating temperatures up to 1500°C as well as bombardment from alpha particles and neutrons escaping from the plasma. Radiation damage causes the displacement of atoms from their lattice sites in a material, creating knock-on atoms which then go on to cause further damage, this is known as the damage cascade. These displaced atoms (interstitial atoms) may either recombine with a vacant site and so no damage will endure, or they may combine with another interstitial and grow into a larger defect, with vacancy type defects also able to grow. This produces defect features such as dislocations and cavities which lead to changes in the materials microstructure and crystal lattice. These changes can cause the material to swell, which may lead to structural failure as well as degrading the materials thermophysical and thermomechanical properties, reducing the efficiency of the component.
This project will examine the changes to the microstructure and crystal lattice caused by helium ion at different irradiation temperatures by performing in situ and ex situ ion irradiations. The successful candidate will be based at the world-class Microscopes and Ion Accelerators for Materials Investigations (MIAMI) facilities at the University of Huddersfield. Defect populations will be studied by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and changes in the crystal lattice parameter (to examine swelling of the material) will be studied by medium energy ion scattering (MEIS) and x-ray diffraction techniques. In addition to this, changes in mechanical properties of the ex-situ irradiated material will be characterised using nanoindentation. This work will build up a complete picture of how the nature and type of defects (i.e. dislocations and helium bubbles) at the nanoscale lead to changes in materials bulk properties, such as hardening and swelling.

Funding

This project attracts a three year, tax-free stipend of £14,553 per year (for 2018/19) payable every four weeks and tuition fees will be covered at Home/EU rates for three years.

Supervisors

Outline

Multi component and multiphase mixture flows take place through a number of industrial stems and contribute to a number of processes. Some practical examples of such flows are solid-liquid flow, solid-gas flow, solid-liquid-gas flow, oil - water flow etc. Some of the most common industries where these flows are encountered are Nuclear Industry, Mining Industry, and Chemical Industry etc. The operation, monitoring and control of these flows need detailed knowledge about the flow characteristics of individual components and individual phases. The problem becomes especially complex if the flows are taking place through complex geometries for example helical pipes, elbows valves etc. Through this project novel techniques will be developed to understand local flow features associated with individual components and phases and integrating this information to develop design tools/standards for these processes. The special computational/experimental techniques developed will enable quantification of interphase interaction mechanism. It is expected that the work carried out under this project will enable removal of empiricism embedded in design methodologies to a large extent. It will further allow development of methodologies to trouble free operation and energy use optimisation for such systems.

Funding

Please see our Scholarships page to find out about funding or studentship options available.

Supervisors

Outline

A prilling tower is an integral part of any fertilizer plant. A hot fluid (normally urea) is sprayed from a nozzle at the top of the tower forming droplets of urea. These droplets fall under the action of gravity, releasing their energy content, and hence, forming solid prills of urea, which is extensively used as a fertilizer. It is often seen that a lot of the prills formed at the base of the tower doesn't have enough strength to remain in the form of a prill; hence, they disintegrate into powder, wasting an excessive amount of the product. This happens because of ineffective cooling in the tower. The current research work will look into the dynamic of vortex rings for effective cooling purposes within a prilling tower. Vortex rings are inherent in nature and have been a topic of interest for almost a millennium. The urge to utilise vortex rings for multi-purpose applications, such as in cooling of urea droplets in a prilling tower, has led to the development of various types of vortex rings. However, in-depth analysis of the flow phenomena associated with vortex rings is still very little known. This study will investigate the dynamics of a vortex ring's generation, propagation and its ultimate dissipation within a prilling tower. The effect of the geometrical, flow and fluid parameters on the rolling-up of the fluid's shear layers will be analysed using a number of analytical, experimental and numerical techniques. It is expected that this study will result into a practical device that can be installed on the top of the prilling tower, which can enhance the cooling process, hence substantially reducing the waste powder.

Funding

Please see our Scholarships page to find out about funding or studentship options available.

Supervisors

Outline

The proposal is to investigate how non-metallic reinforcement added into aluminium alloys can be used to its maximum effect. The addition may be into molten cast aluminium, or into semi solid “squeeze compression moulded” aluminium, where the metal is treated more like a plastic and worked in a semi-molten state. In either case, treating the material more like a polymer composite than a metal allows creation of orthotropic qualities which can be used to optimise designs, aligning the maximum material strengths with the loading directions. This will allow reduction of mass, and more importantly, inertia in highly stressed components such as compressor impellers, enabling better transient response.
Characterisation of these materials following a range of processing methods will allow development of constitutive modelling techniques which will capture the behaviour of the material in specific design situations. These modelling techniques can then be validated against test in a range of highly directionally loaded situations using realistic operating conditions. Generic design rules for optimal design of such components can then be developed.
Applicants should have a knowledge of materials and Finite Element Analysis.

Funding

Please see our Scholarships page to find out about funding or studentship options available.

Supervisors

Outline

Previous work shows that application of an array of synthetic jet actuators, embedded within wing’s lading edges, leads to a significant alteration (reduction) to the buffet excitation levels on the suction side of swept wings arising from the vortex breakdown. While this effect has been extensively documented, little is known about the underlying fluid mechanical processes. It has been hypothesised that the coherent vorticity originating from the orifices of the synthetic jets becomes rolled up within the leading edge vortices and interacts with large scale coherent structures originating from the vortex burst, so that the vortex filaments become kinked and dissipate more quickly than in an un-actuated wing. The proposed project aims at unravelling the flow physics behind these processes by investigating the propagation of coherent structures in the post-breakdown region (in both actuated and un-actuated situation) using either the optical flow diagnostics tool such as flow visualisation, LDA and PIV and/or CFD codes such as Fluent. (Industrial relevance: aerospace)

Supervisors

Outline

Grain boundary can be viewed as the main source of material imperfection on the atomic level. In many cases grain boundary is a trap of material impurities during production and later it becomes an Achilles heel during alloy lifespan. Grain boundary engineering is at the frontier of contemporary material science.
Amorphous metals do not have grain boundaries. Magnetron deposition of thin films allows for creation of amorphous materials in much broader compositional spectra and unique compositions. Amorphous alloy thin films is mostly uncharted territory with applications well beyond petrochemical applications. The project will concentrate on coating soft iron pipe steal with thin films of NiCrMnAl and NiCrMnCuAl composition and corrosion testing in crude oils at high temperature.

Supervisors

Outline

Refractory carbide-based ceramics will be synthesised by Physical Vapour Deposition (PVD) at ambient temperatures and by uniaxial hot pressing of reactive powders at temperatures around 2000 C. The composition, atomic bonding and crystalline structure will be characterised using electron and x-ray microscopy and spectroscopy techniques. We also intend to use micro Raman for investigation of the grapheme phases found in these ceramics. Mechanical properties will be measured using a high-temperature nanomechanical platform. The project will also utilise the University's ion beam irradiation and analysis facilities as well as benefitting from our well-established collaborations with colleagues at Leeds (UK), Poitiers (France), Kiev (Ukraine), Uppsala (Sweden), Limeric (Ireland) and Aachen (Germany). National facilities , such as the Diamond Light Source, will be used to gain precise understanding of atomic arrangements to compliment the characterisation work performed at Huddersfield and through our existing network of collaborators. Finally, the performance of the synthesised ceramics will be tested in extreme environments relevant to real-world applications through our industrial partners including Tier Coatings Ltd (UK), Reliance Precision Ltd (UK) and Hauzer Techno Coating BV (Netherlands)

Funding

Please see our Scholarships page to find out about funding or studentship options available.

Supervisors

Outline

The aim of this project is to research the efficiency of FPGA computing compared to
CPU/GPU computing, using a novel approach in the form of cross-platform implementation
using OpenCL.
OpenCL aims to remove the difficulties that lie within cross-platform programming by using a
framework that allows a single design to be implemented on either CPU, GPU, DSP or FPGA.
It also encourages the use of heterogeneous systems (for example CPU+FPGA) to improve
development time and performances.
The proposed approach is to investigate the efficiency of the CPU, GPU and FPGA platforms
through the use of typical distributed computing applications within the fields of engineering
and science, with emphasis on computation time, overall development time and energy
consumption.
In this project resources available in the School of Computing and Engineering will be used:
QGG Campus grid, CPU and GPU clusters, and FPGA hardware, with possible access to
Hartree centre - Maxeler FPGA equipment.

Funding

Please see our Scholarships page to find out about funding or studentship options available.

Supervisors

Outline

In recent years, the range of smart sensing technologies has expanded rapidly. This has led to a corresponding expansion in condition monitoring of systems, structures, vehicles, and machinery using smart sensors. With advancements in condition monitoring technologies, the condition based maintenance strategy has become a powerful means to reduce the cost of system operation and maintenance for railway vehicle and railway infrastructure like rail tracks, bridges, tunnels etc. This project will focus on design and development of novel dedicated intelligent sensors for automated condition monitoring of railway vehicle subsystem such as chassis, bogie and wheels. It may also try to develop smart sensing devices for monitoring railway infrastructure such as bridges and rail tracks. The dedicated smart sensors can adapt to changes of environment such that they can maximize the performance and minimize the maintenance expense of railway vehicles.
The specific knowledge and experiences needed for the project are:
• Mechanical vibration and noise measurement
• Micro-Electro-Mechanical-System design
• Data fusion and signal processing
• Artificial intelligence

Funding

Please see our Scholarships page to find out about funding or studentship options available.

Supervisors

Outline

Surface metrology is facing significant challenges from new generation manufactured products including high added value products with freeform/ structured surface, additively generated components that are generally represented using point cloud or triangle mesh data measured by new generation of measurement equipment, e.g. X-ray computed tomography. This PhD project is to develop next generation geometry/surface metrology software for the characterisation of new types of freeform and structured surfaces. It will include: (1)Create and build a reconfigurable framework for advanced metrology software; (2)Generate user-friendly toolboxes to represent and manipulate the surface topography data (including point cloud and mesh data);(3)Integrate advanced in-house algorithms (decomposition, association, texture mapping/parameterisation and characterisation) into the metrology software.
This exciting research project is highly industrially relevant and of great scientific interest and therefore will offer the candidate the possibility to establish successful industrial and academic collaborations.

Funding

Please see our Scholarships page to find out about funding or studentship options available.

Supervisors

Outline

Most polymers are limited in their scope of use as a replacement for metals due to the differences in material properties such as strength, thermal expansion, creep, brittleness etc. In order to achieve the required properties, the components need to be redesigned to take the different material properties into account. To allow accurate design analysis, these properties need to be characterised and suitable mathematical models defined. The project will include characterisation of materials with suitable bulk properties to include the variable properties which can be used to improve the performance of the end product, such as polymer chain or reinforcing strand alignment. If a suitable constitutive model is not available, then the relevant mathematical modelling will need to be undertaken to provide the basis for design analysis. This will need to take into account the proposed manufacturing method, which may have influences on the final localised properties of the material.
The models developed can then be used to design components which will be tested under typical operating conditions to validate their suitability for replacement of metal components.
The student will need a thorough understanding of polymeric materials and non-linear modelling techniques, and preferably some experience of test methodologies.

Funding

Please see our Scholarships page to find out about funding or studentship options available.

Supervisors

Outline

This project is in the area of Thermoacoustic Technologies that deal with designing engines and refrigerators (heat pumps) with no moving parts. In refrigerators, an acoustic wave present in a thermoacoustic stack (or regenerator), which can be imagined as a series of narrow passages, imposes pressure and velocity oscillations, with a relative phase difference, enabling the compressible fluid to undergo a thermodynamic cycle similar to the Stirling cycle. This, coupled with appropriately phased heat absorption and release, enables “pumping” heat from the cooler to the hotter end of the stack (or regenerator) with no need for cranks, sliding seals or excess weight normally associated with conventional Stirling machines. A reverse process of establishing an acoustic wave due to the strong temperature gradients in the stack (regenerator) forms a basis for the operation of “thermoacoustic engines” – the useful acoustic power being extracted by the appropriate linear alternators. The aim of this project is to utilise the thermoacoustic principles described above in the design of a miniature thermoacoustic coolers that would be used for localised cooling of electronic components, such as for example computer processors.

Supervisors

Outline

A displacement fluid is injected to displace oil and/or gas from reservoirs. The displacing fluid and oil or gas flow through and around matrix of porous medium, fractures and vugs or cavities between the injector and the producer. This process is challenging to model as the flow passages can range from nanometres when the fluids flow through the matrix, to metres or kilometres through fractures and vugs and kilometres in the injector and in the producer. The multiscale (nanometres to kilometres) nature of the flow passages is a significant challenge to model. Efficient methods that span the whole range of length-scales is very useful to accurate predictions of the transport phenomena. In addition to this, the flow can be single-phase or multi-phase (liquid-liquid, liquid-gas, liquid-gas-particulate), reactive or non-reactive and etc; this adds significant complexities to the development of accurate and efficient numerical methods.
The aim of this project is to develop numerical methods which allow for the modelling of large changes in the physical dimensions while the transport processes are still in the continuum regime possibly with slip boundary conditions.

Funding

Please see our Scholarships page to find out about funding or studentship options available.

Supervisors

Outline

A displacement fluid is injected to displace oil and/or gas from reservoirs. The displacing fluid and oil or gas flow through and around matrix of porous medium, fractures and vugs or cavities between the injector and the producer. This process is challenging to model as the flow passages can range from nanometres when the fluids flow through the matrix, to metres or kilometres through fractures and vugs and kilometres in the injector and in the producer. The multiscale (nanometres to kilometres) nature of the flow passages is a significant challenge to model. Efficient methods that span the whole range of length-scales is very useful to accurate predictions of the transport phenomena. In addition to this, the flow can be single-phase or multi-phase (liquid-liquid, liquid-gas, liquid-gas-particulate), reactive or non-reactive and etc; this adds significant complexities to the development of accurate and efficient numerical methods.
The aim of this project is to develop numerical methods which allow for the modelling of large changes in the physical dimensions while the transport processes are still in the continuum regime possibly with slip boundary conditions.

Funding

Please see our Scholarships page to find out about funding or studentship options available.

Deadline

Supervisors

Outline

Solar chimney is a passive solar collector where air collected at the base of a tall chimney is heated up while it travels horizontally through the base gaining speed as the air flows toward the centre of the chimney. This hot air then rises through a vertical tower and exits back into the environment. Turbines are placed at the base of the chimney before the tower generating power due to the motion of the air flow.
The aim of this project is to investigate the efficiency and accuracy of different numerical models in the modelling of the solar chimney. The numerical models will be improved by introducing additional effects to capture the special needs of air flow through these structures. Accurate radiation heat transfer models will be implemented to improve the accuracy of the numerical models.

Funding

Please see our Scholarships page to find out about funding or studentship options available.

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Outline

Infrastructure systems consist of a number of sub-systems carrying a wide variety of solid-liquid-gaseous materials. Failure of one of the sub-systems may result in release of these materials in an uncontrolled manner. Risk mitigation strategies need to be designed keeping variety of leak scenarios. Furthermore, an array of sensors is needed to provide dispersion characteristics through a well-developed formulation. The information provided through such methods is limited in scope and accuracy in the present work a CFD based solution algorithm will be developed that integrates pre-developed flow scenarios with sensor array information to provide qualitative and quantitative pollutant dispersion characteristics. The developed system will be capable of informing real time pollution dispersion characteristics and will help in developing risk mitigation strategies.

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The primary aim of this research based study is to develop a cutting edge design tool for industrial multiphase flow centrifugal pumps. Currently inter-dependence of geometrical parameters of a pump with the flow and fluid variables is not fully established through complex flow geometries like pumps. Through this research we wish to establish uniquely this dependence resulting in a step change in development of unique design methodologies like inverse design methods for various types of Centrifugal pumps, handling multiphase fluids used in Oil and Gas applications, leading to significant improvement in their performance and Life Cycle, and to promote green energy technology in Mechanical and Turbo-machinery applications. EEERG is actively involved in large number of mechanical industries in this area and through this collaboration a wider international network of supporting companies and institutions using this methodology will be created. A greater understanding is thus required for wider utilisation of inverse design approaches in a range of existing and emerging engineering disciplines. The specific objectives of this study are:
1) to develop novel integrated approaches to the application of inverse design methods
2) to exploit advanced Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) based strategies, in combination with 3D CAD modelling, to create resources for teaching and public outreach, and providing impressive and interactive demonstrations of inverse design success.

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Include any specific knowledge/experience the applicant will need. This will appear on Coursefinder.
The research project is to develop an abrasive machining method to the surface structuring of novel technical materials. The technical materials to be machined are 3D printed alloys or the hard-to-machine materials like Si, SiC etc. A typical case study will be focused on the surface structuring of SiC plate using special designed grinding wheels. Simulation work will also be carried out in this project to study the material removal mechanism and find the optimised processing parameters.
The selected PhD student will be trained to operate machine tools and other related measurement equipment.
The applicant should have Msc research degree on mechanical engineering/informatics or will receive his/her Msc degree before they start the PhD study in September. The applicant who has publications (conference/journal paper/book chapter) in this research area will have high priority.

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Current communications systems operate in half-duplex mode as it is generally believed that it is not possible to transmit and receive at the same time in wireless networks due to the strong self-interference created by the transmitter at its own receiver. Recent research has shown that the strong self-interference can be completely cancelled using analog and digital interference cancellation techniques to enable full-duplex communication. The immediate benefit of full-duplex communication is the doubling of spectral efficiency that makes a significant part of radio spectrum available for new applications and services. While the feasibility of full-duplex radios has recently been demonstrated for standalone wireless links, the challenges in the implementation of full-duplexing in 5G communication networks are many folds. Firstly, 5G communication networks involve multi-user communication in infrastructure or ad hoc mode. Secondly, multi-antenna communication is intimately linked to the ability to increase the spectral efficiency of a link without increasing the total transmission power, as shown by the advent of MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output) systems. This project will investigate full-duplexing techniques in multi-user, multi-antenna communication set up in 5G communication networks.

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The aim of this project is to develop new composite materials with enhanced heat transfer and long lasting super hydrophobic surface properties. This will favour dropwise condensation to take place on a surface and further enhance heat transfer and energy efficiency. The technology can also be applied to heat transfer, power generation, water harvesting, dehumidification, chemical production and water desalination.
Development strategy will include evaluation of polymer, ceramic and metal materials. At the same time when optimising physic-chemical properties mechanical strength and machinability will be considered.

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The aim of this project is to develop new composite material with enhanced heat transfer and long lasting superhydrophobic surface properties. This will favour dropwise condensation to take place on a surface and further enhance heat transfer and energy efficiency. This technology can also be applied to heat transfer, power generation, water harvesting, dehumidification, chemical production and water desalination. The development strategy will include an evaluation of polymer, ceramic and metal materials. At the same time when optimising physico-chemical properties mechanical strength and machinability will be considered.

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The measurement of wear is fundamental to the understanding of performance of orthopaedic joint replacements. In the case of components manufactured from ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene this is often difficult to accurately determine. The volume of wear along with material factors such as creep and the possibility of geometric changes due to loading mean that the problem has many dimensions. An opportunity exists for a doctoral student to be employed on this project in the EPSRC Future Metrology Hub at the University of Huddersfield. The project in broad terms is to develop a deeper understanding of the multi-factorial nature of wear measurement in UHMWPE hips through development of measurement and analysis techniques and through experimentation. The ideal candidate will have a strong background in design analysis and/or materials with an aptitude for programming. Ideally first degree in Mechanical Engineering, Materials or Physics would be desirable.

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In the oil-gas fields, slurry flow, gas-in-water two phase flows, and oil-gas-water three phase flows are frequently encountered. Generally, the measurement of volumetric flow rate for each phase is of most interest, especially in subsea oil-gas production applications, where it is essential to obtain oil, water and gas flow rates in inclined oil wells. The problem of how to accurately measure these flow parameters for such complicated flow phenomena, without using expensive test separators and intrusive technique, is a major challenge for the industry. Most conventional multiphase flow meters have severe limitations regarding types of flow and their measurement reliability. Some useful techniques containing radioactive sources are available but they are expensive and potential harmful to humans. Thus, the new developed system will be capable of measuring the local volume fraction local distribution and local velocity distributions of each phase based on tomographic techniques that does not contain a radioactive source.

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Three-dimensional (3D) sensing for specular objects is required in many applications in research and industry. And most of the surfaces are high precision, inconvenient to measure. A practical method to measure specular surfaces is phase measurement deflectometry. The proposed research project aims to explore high accurate calibration algorithms and phase calculation algorithms of stereo phase measurement optical deflectometry system for high precision fast measurement of freeform and complex structured specular surfaces. By combination of the new calibration method and the novel stereo measurement algorithm developed in this project the measurement accuracy of phase measurement deflectometry could be improved for one order from a few hundreds nanometres global accuracy for specular flat surface1,2 to a few tens of nanometres global accuracy for specular freeform smooth surfaces.
The proposed stereo optical deflectometry system has potential for on-line measurement of the whole topography of freeform or structured specular surfaces object which have high difference in height. Compared to the current relative researches in the field of optical deflectometry calibration, the proposed calibration algorithms will evidently reduce calibration error for a single camera measurement system by introducing active phase target and also by combining the holistic optimization algorithm to increase relative position accuracy of the components in deflectometry system.

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Adsorption water desalination / purification system has shown a proven advantages including providing fresh water of minimal possible cost with potential of more cost efficient by utilising low-grade waste or solar heats. However, such a system suffers from large physical footprint and weight that limits its portability and hence lowering the capability of serving small size communities.
This research project is set out for feasibility study of implementing a novel Graphene based material with extraordinary thermo-physical properties (high thermal conductivity of over 1000 W/m.k and low density of 1.5 g/c-cm) for better energy utilization and reducing the system physical footprint. This is to be done by enhancing the thermal inertia and heat distribution in heat exchangers of Adsorption water desalination / purification system.
This project suits a graduate with engineering and/or material science background seeking to develop skills in a multidisciplinary research area of thermofluids and material science.

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Internet of Everything (loE) has been emerging as the next evolutionary stage of Internet of Things (loT). Compared to loT, loE will not only connect devices and people but also process and leverage connectivity among data, devices, and people to add value. This high heterogeneity of devices and interaction imposes severe challenges to loEs because of their diverse functionality and offered service as loEs are constrained in terms of end-to-end delay, processing power, and battery life.
020 communications enable smart mobile devices to communicate and transmit data directly to each other via a D2D link. The proposed solution of assisting loE ecosystem with 020 help solve loE's constraints smartly. D2D will form cloudlets close to nearby loE things and allow all the computationally-intensive data processing and big-data storage away from loE devices. This will reduce end-to-end delays, improve processing capability and battery life of loEs.
The assistance of loE ecosystem with D2D will not always be a win-win situation as interference between loE ecosystems and operating D2D devices may be significantly enhanced, especially when using unlicensed spectrum. New dynamic interference managemenUresource allocation algorithms will be designed in this project to assist loE ecosystem with D2D.

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Aim of the project is to reduce Nitrogen Oxides (NOx) and other emission (THC, NMHC, CO, PM) of engines powered by biodiesel / diesel blends (referred to as diesel) by increasing water/diesel separation ratio in the filtration process. Micro-droplets of water («10 μm) can significantly deteriorate combustion process and currently it is a great challenge to separate water droplets lower than 5 μm. Elimination of water contamination will reduce emissions, improve combustion and performance as well as decrease corrosion of engine elements and potential failure risk.
Due to carbon emission restrictions from fossil fuels, the use of biodiesel mixed with conventional diesel is steadily increasing. Biodiesel is a carbon-neutral alternative to conventional fossil fuel, which has several environmentally beneficial properties. Unfortunately, it is prone to contamination by water. Therefore filtering is of great importance.
This project will analyse the water content in biodiesel fuel and filtration methods will be studied in detail using both experimental and numerical techniques. The objective will be to understand the physical mechanism of dispersed water particle coalescence to enhance diesel /water separation, improve engine performance and reduce overall engine emission.
This project is eligible for Fee Waiver Scholarship, contact.

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The aim of the project is to reduce Nitrogen Oxides (NOx) and other emission (THC, NMHC, CO, PM) of engines powered by biodiesel I diesel blends by controlling water/diesel separation ratio in the filtration process. Micro-droplets of water («10 µm) can significantly influence combustion process and currently it is a great challenge to separate water droplets lower than 10 µm. Elimination of water contamination can reduce emissions, improve combustion and performance as well as decrease corrosion of engine elements and potential failure risk.
Due to carbon emission restrictions from fossil fuels, the use of biodiesel mixed with conventional diesel is steadily increasing. Biodiesel is a carbon-neutral alternative to conventional fossil fuel, which has several environmentally beneficial properties. Unfortunately, it is prone to contamination by water, therefore, filtering is of great importance.
This project will analyse the water content in biodiesel fuel and filtration methods will be studied in detail using both experimental and numerical techniques. The objective will be to understand the physical mechanism of dispersed water particle coalescence to enhance diesel /water separation improve engine performance and reduce overall engine emission.

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The Institute of Railway Research (IRR) is seeking a candidate to engage in a programme of research that will develop energy harvesting conversion mechanisms for the railway network. The GB railway network is a vast and, in parts, dense network that covers over 15 thousand kilometres of track; this offers fertile ground to plant harvesting technology to untether sensing devices. Sensing technology when removed from an electrical outlet must be battery powered; however, batteries require charging/changing which, in a large sensor network composed of many nodes, is prohibitively costly. This research work will investigate the energy harvesting potential of a number of typical railway applications. It will conceptualise, design, simulate and build energy harvesters potentially covering a range of typical energy sources, including vibration, wind, solar and heat transducers. In addition to the transducers, the candidate will develop energy management systems for untethered microprocessors. The aim of the doctorate will be to develop, test and validate harvesters and energy management for an ultra-low-power sensor network system for railway applications. The candidate must have competence in mechanical modelling of physical systems. He/she will ideally have a mixed electrical and mechanical background. Proficient in CAD, FEA, C-programming and Matlab. They will have deep knowledge of MEMS sensor technology and wireless sensor networks.

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This project relates to the physics of multiphase flows, which are a common occurrence in many industries such as nuclear, chemical, petroleum, minerals or food (some of the examples being gas/oil flows in crude oil extraction processes or steam/water flow in helical heat exchangers). On the fundamental level, the project will attempt to study various flow regimes present in gas-liquid system, in a purpose built flow rig, with particular attention to flows in inclined pipelines. These are still not very well understood as most of the existing work relates to vertical and horizontal configurations. The techniques used to interrogate the flow may include high-speed video, pressure drop measurements, optical (LDA, PIV), electrical (capacitance/resistance) or ultrasonics. It is hoped that this will provide a detailed classification of the flow patterns associated with various flow conditions, fluid properties and pipeline inclinations. On the engineering level, the project will aim at developing criterial correlations, which could be used in future in the design process of industrial installations. In its basic form, the project will suit either mechanical, chemical/process/petroleum or nuclear engineering graduates, that is those who had exposure to thermo-fluids and measurement problems during their undergraduate studies. The problem may be suitably modified to accommodate also IT, signal processing and instrumentation engineers, by taking the focus off the flow itself, and instead contributing to the development of methodologies for flow pattern recognition, measurement and signal processing. (Industrial relevance: petroleum, energy sector, chemical)

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This project relates to the physics of multiphase flows, which are a common occurrence in many industries such as nuclear, chemical, petroleum, minerals or food (some of the examples being gas/oil flows in crude oil extraction processes or steam/water flow in helical heat exchangers). On the fundamental level, the project will attempt to study various flow regimes present in gas-liquid system, in a purpose built flow rig, with particular attention to flows in inclined pipelines. These are still not very well understood as most of the existing work relates to vertical and horizontal configurations. The techniques used to interrogate the flow may include high-speed video, pressure drop measurements, optical (LDA, PIV), electrical (capacitance/resistance) or ultrasonics. It is hoped that this will provide a detailed classification of the flow patterns associated with various flow conditions, fluid properties and pipeline inclinations. On the engineering level, the project will aim at developing criterial correlations, which could be used in future in the design process of industrial installations. In its basic form, the project will suit either mechanical, chemical/process/petroleum or nuclear engineering graduates, that is those who had exposure to thermo-fluids and measurement problems during their undergraduate studies. The problem may be suitably modified to accommodate also IT, signal processing and instrumentation engineers, by taking the focus off the flow itself, and instead contributing to the development of methodologies for flow pattern recognition, measurement and signal processing. (Industrial relevance: petroleum, energy sector, chemical)

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This project aims to produce rare earth permanent magnets which are reinforced with ceramic fibres. Rare earth magnets are manufactured by sintering which leaves them with low mechanical tensile strength. When used in electric machine rotors, the magnets have to be guarded against tensile stresses to prevent failure. This compromises performance and complicates the rotor manufacturing process. A reinforced magnet would remove these issues. The project will investigate manufacturing processes which allow for the introduction of the fibres and develop analytical tools to predict the mechanical and magnetic properties of the composite material. These analytical tools will be validated with data from experimental work which will also investigate failure mechanisms.

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In this project the use of aerodynamic bearings to support the rotor shaft in automotive turbochargers will be investigated. The proposed bearing is supported by a metal foil structure when the shaft rotation is insufficient to generate the aerodynamic forces required to make the bearing self-supporting. The project will include:
• Investigation of the operational requirements for automotive turbocharger rotor bearings comprising load, stiffness and damping characteristics, operating conditions including temperature, shaft speed, gas and inertial loading and importantly, bearing and shaft sizes.
•Development of the multi-physics numerical models required to simulate the aerodynamic effect, the interaction of the generated air film with the metal foil support structure and the damping characteristics provided by friction between the components of the foil support structure.
•Generation of experimental data to validate the numerical models including the design and manufacture of a bearing test rig.
•Production of characteristic load, stiffness and damping curves for foil backed aerodynamic bearings using the validated numerical model.
•Use of a constrained optimization approach to identify the range of feasible bearing designs for automotive applications.
•Modification of an existing hydrodynamic turbocharger bearing housing to use an example aerodynamic bearing and demonstrate the bearing’s feasibility on an engine test bed.

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The aim of the project is to develop a framework for functional surface design, which will be used for two case studies on surface texture optimisation for drag reduction in the transport industry and in surface design for continuous dropwise condensation process, to significantly increase heat transfer. The surface design framework will be based on the Lattice Boltzmann method. The main innovation in the research will be to use surface hydrophobicity and texture to lower drag, and achieve continuous dropwise condensation process which will have the potential to increase heat transfer rate comparing to filmwise condensation.
This research will involve international collaboration with the group at University of Valenciennes in France who specialise in hierarchical surface manufacturing methods. Research will involve mainly development of numerical and analytical methods and models which will be tested numerically on a new HPC facility at Huddersfield (Ascella lnfiniband Cluster) and also experimental validation of developed surfaces in Huddersfield and in Valenciennes (France).

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The project aims at conducting a fundamental study of fluid mechanical and heat transfer processes occurring in stacks/regenerators and heat exchangers of thermoacoustic devices. In thermoacoustic devices, a standing/travelling acoustic wave causes the compressible fluid to undergo a thermodynamic cycle very similar to the Stirling cycle. This can potentially be utilised in constructing the next generation of reliable and energy efficient prime movers, refrigerators or heat pumps, without moving parts and using environmentally friendly inert gasses as working fluids. Unfortunately, the correct analysis of the thermoacoustic devices is hindered by the lack of understanding of the fluid mechanics and heat transfer processes which are profoundly affected by the transient and three-dimensional nature of the oscillating compressible flow and its interactions with physical boundaries. The proposed research will focus on investigating these complex phenomena in a purpose-built experimental apparatus, using a range of measurement techniques including Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV), Laser Induced Fluorescence (LIF), Laser Doppler Anemometry (LDA) and hot and cold-wire measurements, in order to determine the flow characteristics inside representative components of a thermoacoustic device. This work will be complemented by numerical studies where the transport coefficients obtained from experiments can be used to enhance the numerical models of the fluid behaviour to benefit future design procedures. (Industrial relevance: power generation, heat ventilation and air conditioning, refrigeration, manufacturing)

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In turbine housings, the peak temperatures only occur over small sections of the operating cycle. The proposal is to develop lightweight turbine housings based on sheet steel casings enclosing a phase change material, which absorb the energy during the high temperature excursions, thus protecting the steel housing. An added benefit would be that when the temperature dropped, the energy absorbed would be released back into the turbine, improving efficiency there as well. Research needs to be undertaken into determining suitable phase change materials for this purpose, and how they can be incorporated into the challenging environment necessitated by the application.
Applicants should have a knowledge of materials and Finite Element Analysis.

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This project will develop a family of lightweight composite materials capable of being manufactured in complex shapes that are thermally and electrically insulating at high temperatures and deliver a high level of ballistic impact protection for applications as varied as turbocharger housings, high speed electric motor casings, manufacturing process equipment and lightweight body armour. This work will form the basis for future investigations into high performance intelligent materials with additional functionality, i.e. sensing capability and/or self-repair.
A lightweight, thermally/electrically insulating material that is easily formable and capable of operating across a wide range of temperatures can be applied across a number of industry sectors, including automotive (turbocharger components), electrical (insulating, low loss motor housings) and process equipment (reactor vessels, food preparation equipment) as well as military applications. In many cases, the requirement is for a casing or housing that protects the internal or external space from impact by high energy objects. These may be the result of a catastrophic failure of a rotor (in the case of a turbine or motor) or impact by external objects (as a result of an explosion in a processing plant or military ordnance).

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Ballistic containment of high speed particles is a requirement for many rotating machines (aero engines, turbochargers, motors) in case of rotor failure. In aerospace applications, ballistic "jackets" are used, to prevent any engine parts escaping through the casing and striking the fuselage, however these are made from 20 fabrics where the seams present potential failure locations. For smaller applications with complex geometry a 3D construction which minimises the number of seams is required. The closer proximity of the jacket to the component also requires a higher temperature capability.
Fibres will play an important role in the structure mechanics of such a jacket and the structural properties are often dependant on the fibre type, yam construction and positioning within the material structure. Development of a jacket of this type will require formulation of mathematical methods of representing complex fabric formations and their behaviour on impact from a projectile. The yam will need to have properties capable of surviving the challenging environments which the application is likely to encounter. The jacket design then needs to be translated to a textile preform pattern which can be manufactured.
Applicants should have a knowledge of materials and textile manufacturing processes.

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Large-scale HPC cluster systems are finding increasing deployment in academic, research, and commercial settings, hence securing the HPC infrastructure is an important task. There are many security threats coming from both the Internet and internal networks. It is crucial to introduce an adequate level of security to the infrastructure, to prevent an unauthorised access to the HPC resources and avoid loss of valuable data.
The aim of this project is to investigate the security issues in HPC systems, and devise a framework suitable for securing HPC cluster systems in Higher Education and research institutions.
The challenge is to secure internal distributed resources against unauthorised access while permitting easy access by legitimate users, to coordinate security across different node platforms and different specialised function nodes (there is a separation of nodes into 'head nodes', 'compute nodes', 'storage nodes', and 'management nodes'), and to maintain the integrity of all nodes since many nodes share identical configurations. This framework should provide coordination between security domains on campus and between institutions when resources are shared across multiple organisations. It should address the security issues posed by the high-bandwidth connections, extensive computational power, massive storage capacity, and should enable process monitoring, network port scanning and traffic analysis.

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Large-scale HPC cluster systems are finding increasing deployment in academic, research, and commercial settings, hence securing the HPC infrastructure is an important task. There are many security threats coming from both the Internet and internal networks. It is crucial to introduce an adequate level of security to the infrastructure, to prevent an unauthorised access to the HPC resources and avoid loss of valuable data.
The aim of this project is to investigate the security issues in HPC systems, and devise a framework suitable for securing HPC cluster systems in Higher Education and research institutions.
The challenge is to secure internal distributed resources against unauthorised access while permitting easy access by legitimate users, to coordinate security across different node platforms and different specialised function nodes (there is a separation of nodes into 'head nodes', 'compute nodes', 'storage nodes', and 'management nodes'), and to maintain the integrity of all nodes since many nodes share identical configurations. This framework should provide coordination between security domains on campus and between institutions when resources are shared across multiple organisations. It should address the security issues posed by the high-bandwidth connections, extensive computational power, massive storage capacity, and should enable process monitoring, network port scanning and traffic analysis.

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Most successful studies of machining stability and tool wear condition modelling are based on the appropriate collection of high-value information. This is set of special signal features that appear when the CNC system loses stability. The collection of this information is challenging both for general research and for industrial application because of uncertain factors such as the environmental temperature variation, work piece material quality and unknown/unobserved system errors. To solve this problem, this project aims to develop an effective and intelligent algorithms to identify and classify the high-value information for traditional milling processes. The core tasks include: advanced signal processing and stability analysis; tool wear analysis and tool status identification; feature signal identification and classification by Artificial Intelligence (AI) methods. Advanced signal processing technologies , deep learning and machining modelling methods will be combined to achieve this goal . Through this project, the PhD candidate will gain an in-depth understanding of machining motion, machining dynamic characteristics and machining mechanisms. In-depth understanding of material mechanics and thermal conduction will be essential. They candidate with a mechanical engineering, physics or applied mathematical background.

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Environmental noise levels in hospitals are exceedingly high and often exceed recommended World Health Organisation levels. Published research suggests that between 30-50% of people admitted to hospital suffer from significant sleep disturbance. Patients are especially in need of sleep for its restorative properties and disturbed sleep is linked to negative mental and physical well-being. An existing project will collect Sound Pressure Level (SPL) meter data from a local hospital over a four week period. The SPL meters will collect more data than will be analysed by the existing project. The existing project will only analyse broadband peak night time noise level, broadband night time equivalent continuous noise level, proportion of night that is noisy and length of longest unbroken quiet night time period. The first two measures are standard noise measurements and the latter two are obvious measures in relation to sleep disturbance. This project will apply more detailed analysis in both frequency and time resolution. Additionally it will seek to develop and apply existing noise annoyance models to the hospital SPL data to better identify noise that is most likely to disturb patients’ sleep. Visualisations will be developed in HTML5 and associated APIs to allow exploration of the noise data.

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Scarcity of fossil fuels and rapid escalation in the energy prices around the world is affecting efficiency of established modes of cargo transport within transportation industry. Extensive research is being carried out on improving efficiency of existing modes of cargo transport, as well as to develop alternative means of transporting goods. One such alternative method can be through the use of energy contained within fluid flowing in pipelines in order to transfer goods from one place to another. Although the concept of using fluid pipelines for transportation purposes has been in practice for more than a millennium now, but the detailed knowledge of the flow behaviour in such pipelines is still a subject of active research. This is due to the fact that most of the studies conducted on transporting goods in pipelines are based on experimental measurements of global flow parameters, and only a rough approximation of the local flow behaviour within these pipelines has been reported. With the emergence of sophisticated analytical tools and the use of high performance computing facilities being installed throughout the globe, it is now possible to simulate the flow conditions within these pipelines and get better understanding of the underlying flow phenomena

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Temperature is an important factor in manufacturing, since it affects dimensional accuracy and surface integrity. Many approaches exist to reduce the effect of temperature in machining, including homogenising the thermal environment or compensation based upon measuring the temperature of the machine or the resultant distortion. The greatest unsolved issue is direct measurement of the work piece during cutting. The challenge arises because it is not convenient to locate traditional sensors on the surface to be machined, and they do not necessarily represent the internal temperature of the work piece.
This project will investigate several methods of temperature measurement, from traditional contact-based technology, through printed electronics to robust use of non-contact detectors, such as infra-red (thermography).
The opportunity is suitable for an instrumentation engineer, mechanical engineer or a physicist with a desire to apply logical thinking and critical appraisal to different measurement systems. Signal processing and data analysis, with a robust design of experiments, will be required to validate the proposed solution.

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As the Industrial Internet of Things gains interest and traction in modern manufacturing industries, there has been a significant growth in the number of sensors embedded in machinery which follows with data transfer, storage and analysis. In metrology, it is crucial to perform calibration on instruments and sensors to achieve traceability across international engineering and scientific projects. Temperature is one of the most prevalent measurands and while bench top solutions and laboratories can calibrate such sensors, these could not be applied to sensors permanently installed in machinery. This project will look at new materials/combinations of materials that provide anisotropic or ultra-stable properties that may be combined in a mechatronic system performing, for example, reversal measurements, to perform in-situ calibration. The opportunity is suitable for a material scientist or a mechanical engineer wanting to work on a multidisciplinary project using materials to solve a metrology problem. The candidate will apply logical thinking and critical appraisal of materials, with a robust design of experiments to validate the proposed solution.

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Proton therapy is the use of protons for the treatment of cancer. There are strong advantages over other types of
treatment. Proton therapy can also reduce or eliminate the need for chemotherapy with its associated devastating
side-effects, and in some cases providing a cure without the loss of function caused by surgery.
This project aims to design a novel, low-cost, injector system for a proton therapy Linac. The project will initially
focus on designing an RF system to take the protons from 100 KeV to 5MeV. The basis of the RF system will focus
around the design and optimisation of a series of normal conducting reentrant RF resonant cavities. Using
numerical, FEM and FDTD-PIC, techniques to optimise the RF Cavity design to accelerate the protons. The
second aspect of the project will focus on the design and possible build of a MARX generator, using off-the-shelf
components to build an 80-100 MHz 1MW RF source. The research will also consider particle dynamics in the
injector system from a theoretical and numerical perspective.

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Large data analysis presents major computational challenges and novel methods of alleviating computational burdens are sought. Restricting input volume of explanatory variables is beneficial as an aid to timely convergence of algorithms and in de-noising signal information. Pre assessment of input variable quality is required to ensure convergence of predictive computational algorithms. Reducing input parameter volume by restricting both the number of variables incorporated in the model and refining the detail of input variables proffers a solutions. Compression of incorporated variables also forms a useful means of trimming input signals.
This project seeks to investigate the potential offered by volume reduction methodologies on classification precision.

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The project looks at using inverse problem approach to develop complex flow handling systems such as pipings, valves, radiators, heat exchanges for better effieciency, operation and reliability. These fluid handling systems may be handling single or multiphase flow systems. State of the art numerical, analytical and experimental techniques will be used for such purposes.

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The project looks at using inverse problem approach to design various electro-mechanical components used in industrial applications such as wind turbines with generators, marine turbines with power units, wave energy systems with power units for better efficiency, operation and reliability. State of the art numerical, analytical and experimental techniques will be used for such purposes.

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This project looks at using inverse problem approach to develop renewable energy systems such as wind turbines, marine turbines, wave energy systems, thermosyphons for better efficiency, operation and reliability. State of the art numerical, analytical and experimental techniques will be used for such purposes.

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The project looks at using inverse problem approach to develop turbo-machines such as compressors, turbines and pumps for better efficiency, operation and reliability. State of the art numerical, analytical and experimental techniques will be used for such purposes.

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This project will deliver a code for inverse design of blade surface for different climatic conditions. The wind turbine systems incorporating these blades will be expected to be effective in extreme weather conditions. The main benefit of this work will be to increase the efficiency of operation of wind turbines in cold regions which will also contribute to the improvement of turbine safety and lifetime.

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In virtual reality (VR) applications, the quality of experience (QoE) perceived by the user is likely to be determined by interaction between audio and visual cues presented simultaneously rather than just the audio or visual alone. Although Audio-Visual Interaction (AVI) has been researched in many contexts, (e.g., speech recognition, visual realism, environmental noise perception, etc.), to date there has been no exclusive study conducted on the influence of AVI on the subjective audio and video qualities in relation to various objective quality degradation parameters. From this background, this PhD project will aim to provide answers to the following research questions.
• If and how the perception of audio (video) quality is influenced by the presence of video (audio), and how much the video (audio) quality matters for this?
• What are the perceptually relevant audio quality degradation parameters in various AVI scenarios?
• What is the optimal perceptual weighting between the audio and video qualities in terms of maintaining high QoE in multimedia and VR applications?
Theoretical findings from this project will have important implications for efficient and effective audio-visual
processing. the applicant will need good knowledge in psychoacoustics and be proficient in MATLAB and C++ programming languages.

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Linear Power Amplifiers are used in a wide variety of applications including: Wireless Communications, TV broadcasting, Radar, Wireless LAN, etc. The Laterally Diffused Metal Oxide Semiconductor (LDMOS) amplifier shows a much more linear behaviour than a classic Bipolar or a MOSFET amplifier. Consequently, a Digital Video Broadcasting – Second Generation Terrestrial (DVB-T2) transmitter will exhibit an improved performance in terms of output power and efficiency if built using LDMOS technology. LDMOS amplifiers for TV transmitters present very low distortion when compared with MOSFETs and BJTs at UHF frequencies. Furthermore, LDMOS has a very high gain. A key part of the proposed research will be focused on the development of highly efficient, high-power and low-distortion linear power amplifiers. Simulation tools will include ADS and Matlab. Measurements will be performed with Vector Network Analysers and Spectrum Analysers of the RF Radio Lab. Another aspect of the research will be focused on the design of broadcasting antennas using evolutionary optimisation algorithms. Evolutionary optimisation methods, which have superseded older genetic algorithms, have been used with success in many scientific fields, including computational electromagnetics. The proposal is that these are improved and applied to the optimisation of broadcasting and wideband antennas.

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This joint fully funded PhD project will focus on the fabrication and testing of metal-semiconductor materials for photocathode applications, to identify materials and preparation techniques that optimise material performance. The project will be jointly supervised by Prof. Seviour and Dr. Noakes (Daresbury National Laboratory), with the student based primarily at the Daresbury National Laboratory. The project will use;
• laboratory based instrumentation to prepare, fabricate and characterise materials suitable for photocathodes, including the commissioning of a new deposition system to growth thin alkali antimonide/telluride layers.
• metal photocathode preparation facilities and new growth systems to produce cathodes for testing using the extensive diagnostics equipment available at Daresbury National Laboratory.
The student will familiarise themselves with the existing surface analysis equipment and contribute to the commissioning of the new alkali antimonide/telluride growth facility. In the latter part of the project testing of materials in the VELA accelerator with pre- and post-testing characterisation. In-accelerator testing will be carried out using existing suite of diagnostics, including spectrometery for measuring energy and energy spread, quad scans for emittance measurements and the transverse deflecting cavity for bunch length and response time characterisation.

Funding

This scholarship attracts a three year, tax-free stipend of £14,777 per year (for 2018/19) payable every four weeks and covers tuition fees for three years

Deadline

The deadline to apply for this scholarship is 31 July 2018 (23.59, BST).

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Outline

Turbochargers in many respects provide an optimal solution for economical and affordable power plants and automotive engine. Turbocharger components need to function at a very challenging environments such as high temperature, high mechanical stress and absence of traditional lubricants. The traditional materials and solutions are at the physical limits to satisfy the progress in this area. New materials and solutions are urgently needed.
The PhD project will develop new materials and coatings for the next generation of turbochargers. The materials will include ceramics such as SiBCN and metal alloys in the Ni-Co system. Novel materials and solutions will be developed to reduce production costs, increase functionality and reduce weight. The project is supported by the major international automotive companies and the suitable candidate is expected to work in close collaboration with our international partners

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Embedded sensors are prevalent in many industries, either as part of the function of a machine or for conditioning monitoring or quality control purposes. There is a need to simplify their integration by moving from wired to wireless sensing solutions. This also enables retrofit or ‘add-on’ systems that can be installed on older equipment to extend their usable life. This project will research new thermoelectric materials for energy harvesting, capable of high efficiency with ultra-low temperature differentials and incorporating novel surface characteristics to provide useable power for embedded wireless sensors in modern manufacturing industry. Current technology typically exploits the dynamic nature of machinery through piezoelectrics, hot processes through Pyroelectrics or some other method such as photovoltaics depending on the application. Within the Factory of the Future concept, part of the vision of Industry 4, extensive sensorisation is required on machines with inert structures having low waste energy under normal operating conditions. The research challenge includes the combination of high thermoelectric efficiency, novel cooling and intelligent power management combined in a novel mechatronic solution. The candidate should have an interest in materials science or a physicist with an interest in cross-disciplinary research to facilitate the mechanical, control and material aspects of the work.

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This research will incorporate a literature review to assess the current state of the art in surface technology. The ability to map sound pressure levels across 2D and 3D surfaces allows the user to assess any anomalies within a space resulting from poor architectural design and/or unwanted sound sources. The project will also aim to incorporate the design of a working prototype that will offer a faster and more accurate method of surface measurement through the use of a distributed parallel measurement system.

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This project will explore the range of feasible designs for high speed electric motor rotors constructed using rare earth magnets. Whilst concentrating on the mechanical aspects of the rotor design, the project will not neglect the requirement for good electromagnetic performance. The project will include:
•Investigation of the electromagnetic and manufacturing constraints placed on rotor design.
•Exploration of concepts to prevent rotor bursting due to excessive tensile stress in the permanent magnet.
•Development of theoretical models of the stress distribution through rotors constructed from interfering and/or wire wrapped cylinders.
•Use of finite element models of rotor assemblies to investigate mechanical strength and electromagnetic performance. These models will provide confidence in the closed form theoretical models and help to identify the limitations of those models.
•Experimental work using both static and the high speed spin tester to provide validation data for the theoretical and numerical models.
•Development and demonstration of a methodology to identify the range of feasible designs within the design space taking account of material property constraints as well as electromagnetic and manufacturing constraints.

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Mobile based technologies are considered the biggest technology platform in history, and the next phase of the wireless revolution, 5G based technologies, is predicted to be transformative across society (healthcare, communication, VR, media, education, etc). MIMO (Multiple Input, Multiple Output) is an antenna based technology that multiplies the data capacity of wireless technologies by using multiple transmitting and receiving antennas. For optimal operation the multiple antenna elements in MIMO at 60GHz should be spaced approximately 60GHz apart. This proximity causes interference between antenna elements, a parasitic behaviour, that prevents the technology from working correctly.
In this project we aim to engineer metamaterials for 5G MIMO applications. Metamaterials are artificial sub- wavelength composite materials, that derive their properties not from their material composition but from their geometry. The project will initially focus on simulations to design novel meta-atom materials to suppress parasitic effects that inhibit MIMO technologies. We will achieve this by first numerically studying the performance of a MIMO antenna. This numerical analysis will enable us to understand the nature of the mutual coupling between antenna elements. Having identified the nature of the mutual coupling we will design/study metamaterials to suppress and control the mutual coupling.

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Model-Based System Engineering (MBSE) is a solution that targets the increase of productivity, improvement of product quality and risk management throughout the life cycle, based on the application of Uniform Modelling Language (UML), conceptual graphic model and informatics exchange techniques. For modern machining processes, the analysis of surface formation needs to consider vibration and thermal impacts simultaneously. An effective MBSE is an ideal solution for quickly identifying and adjusting machining plans based on the complete analysis of system stability from collectable information of the CNC.
The target of this project is to design a 3D graphic MBSE which is suitable for precision metal-cutting tasks. The new MBSE needs to satisfy the following requirements:
• An explicit and efficient information exchange system integrated with the 3D virtual CNC model
• The basic data storage and management function
• The basic signal processing and physical modelling of machining process
• The machining strategy planning and self-optimization module
The candidate should have a good background in computer programming, databases and mathematical modelling. A logical approach and an interest in manufacturing applications are essential.

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Precise and timely notice of abnormal behavioural patterns in mechanical processes is vital to ensure continued output quality and avoid unplanned interruptions or deviation from optimal operation. On-line monitoring of systems is now commonplace with a plethora of data available for analysis. Charting process behaviours and so identifying fault blueprints at the earliest possible onset is an essential modelling procedure.
This project aims theoretically and experimentally to establish fault classifiers for monitoring mechanical processes. Thus sound theoretical models are first established then demonstrated and evaluated by application in an experimental setting.

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To explore multivariate statistical modelling processes such as principal component analysis (PCA) to facilitate detection of abnormalities in process performance and condition. Whilst many variables may exhibit strong linear correlations many more do not and do not possess feasible transformation properties.
Mappings may be one to many or possess enclosed domains so require higher dimensional kernel functions. Wavelet transforms may also be necessary to unlock salient trends and de-noise signals under consideration.
PCA extensions, such as Kernel and Multiscale PCA offer potential solutions. The higher the degree of accuracy in modelling data dynamics the greater the predictive potential of subsequent models.
The research aims to provide a novel strategy for detecting and diagnosing deviant events in mechanical processes by extending existing PCA practice and conjoining with current wavelet decomposition methodologies.

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This blue-sky research project aims to investigate the development of a novel metamaterial based electromagnetic source,
setting the foundations for the development of a novel disruptive RF technology. Metamaterials are artificial materials that derive
their properties from their subwavelength geometry rather than their composition. These materials offer, by design, a range of
novel properties not available in nature. For example the ability to generate Backward Cerenkov radiation, offer low-loss and
are capable of slowing light to near stationary velocities. This project aims to exploit these novel properties to develop a new
source of electromagnetic radiation, using parametric amplification to exchange energy from an electron beam to an
electromagnetic wave.
This is a growing research area internationally attracting interest from both researchers and industry, and is expect to become a
billion dollar market by 2020. Working closely with the industrial partner the research student will utilise numerical and
experimental research techniques to explore, design and build a metamaterial structure suitable for generating

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Classification of categorical events using advanced statistical models to detect and identify component faults and deviations from normal healthy operation in mechanical processes is fundamental to modern process monitoring. Variability of operating conditions may be revealed through analysis of output signals recorded at strategic points of a process, vibration signals for example. Subsequently, tolerable degrees of imperfection in specific components can be established. Hence, predictive models are developed and inform process condition including quality and safety aspects.
Experimental data generated from mechanical rigs with and without seeded faults is to be collected and analysed. Comparison of ‘normal’ behaviour with deviant behaviour offers a means of investigating signal patterns which indicate performance quality. Rules are thus established to identify operational problems and predictive classification models may be formed.

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This project is dedicated to the study of radiation damage in a class of layered solids known as "MAX phases". MAX phases are characterised by a hybrid metallic-ceramic behaviour and their unique properties depend on stoichiometry defined by the formula Mn+1AXn where M is an early transition metal, A is an A-group element, X is carbon or nitrogen and n = 1, 2 or 3. MAX phases are currently under consideration for a number of nuclear applications both in current generation (Gen-II/Ill light water reactors (LWRs)) and next generation (Gen-IV lead-cooled fast reactors (LFRs) and also fusion) nuclear systems. The world-class Microscopes and Ion Accelerators for Materials Investigations (MIAMI) facilities at the University of Huddersfield allow the in situ observation of the evolution of radiation damage within a material. Radiation damage is a dynamic process and by observing the effects in real-time at the length scales accessible via transmission electron microscopy, it is possible to get new and important insights into the mechanisms determining the performance of materials under irradiation thus aiding advanced material development for the nuclear industry.
Nuclear materials are exposed to neutron irradiation whilst in-service. Neutron irradiation causes atoms to be displaced from their equilibrium positions in the crystal lattice. This can introduce defects (voids, dislocations), cause phase transformations (amorphisation, decomposition, radiation-induced segregation at grain boundaries) and adversely affect material performance (embrittlement, swelling, creep). Select compositions of MAX phases and carefully­ tailored microstructures are under consideration as advanced nuclear materials due to their inherent resistance to this type of damage. In collaboration with researchers at the Belgian Nuclear Research Centre (SCK•CEN) and KU Leuven (both in Belgium) who design and fabricate 'nuclear grade' MAX phase ceramics suitable for diverse applications, this PhD project will combine ion irradiation with in situ transmission electron microscopy to assess the response of these materials to radiation damage.
Radiation damage in MAX phases is becoming a hot topic for the nuclear industry [1-6] as these materials are candidates for a number of potential applications (for example, accident-tolerant fuel cladding materials in Gen-11/111 LWRs, structural and fuel cladding materials in Gen-IV LFRs). The combination of the world-class MIAMI ion irradiation facilities with the unique MAX phase ceramics designed and produced by our collaborators at SCK•CEN and KU Leuven has a high probability of addressing important technological issues for the nuclear industry and generating high-impact scientific publications. Directly observing the dynamic evolution of the MAX phase microstructure whilst under ion irradiation will develop a better insight into the fundamental processes governing the response of these materials to radiation and explore their potential for specific nuclear applications. Moreover, the systematic use of ion irradiation to recreate defect microstructures similar to the ones observed in neutron-irradiated MAX phases [3-6) will help to accelerate materials development in the highly-conservative nuclear sector and to reduce the high costs typically associated with nuclear material qualification. This project will feed directly into on-going research activities both at Huddersfield and in Belgium, will provide important insights into the behaviour of innovative nuclear materials under irradiation and thus support nuclear research and development in the UK and internationally. Furthermore, the student involved in this project will be trained in the fields of atomic collisions in solids, nuclear materials, and in situ transmission electron microscopy techniques, making them highly employable in both academia and industry.

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Radiation damage in nanostructures is an area of intense scientific research with applications in many areas. For example: the response of semiconductor nanowires to irradiation used to engineer such structures as well as to that experienced when in-service in extreme conditions; the design of radiation-hard nanoporous nuclear materials which derive their resistance from their high surface-to-volume ratios; and the understanding of radiation effects in nanoparticles exposed to extra-terrestrial environments to explore the evolution of the cosmos.
The processes behind radiation damage in materials are both complex and dynamic. Therefore, to gain fundamental insights into these phenomena and the mechanisms which drive them, it is invaluable to be able to observe the changes in real-time at the nanoscale at which they occur. The Electron Microscopy and Materials Analysis (EMMA) Research Group at the University of Huddersfield specialises in the investigation of radiation damage in materials using transmission electron microscopy with in situ ion irradiation which allows exactly this type of experiment to be performed.
The successful applicant will have the opportunity to use the Microscopes and Ion Accelerators for Materials Investigations (MIAMI-1 and MIAMI-2) facilities at the University of Huddersfield which combine transmission electron microscopes with ion beam systems to allow in situ studies of radiation damage effects at the nanoscale. MIAMI-1 has a track record of research in nanostructures including graphene, gold nanorods, nanodiamonds and semiconductor nanowires. The new MIAMI-2 has recently been completed with £3.5M funding from the United Kingdom’s Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and is a state-of-the-art facility with world-leading experimental capabilities. The PhD candidate appointed to this fully-funded studentship will have the opportunity to work alongside colleagues on existing projects on nanostructures to develop their skills and knowledge before choosing the specific area in which they are most interested in pursuing for their own research.

Funding

This project attracts a three year, tax-free stipend of £14,553 per year (for 2018/19) payable every four weeks and tuition fees will be covered at Home/EU rates for three years.

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The next generation of nuclear fission reactors and new fusion technologies will require novel materials capable of withstanding significant levels of radiation damage at high temperatures and in a range of environments. This project is aimed at understanding how some of the materials proposed for these applications will respond to these extreme conditions. Using transmission electron microscopy, with in situ ion irradiation, we are able to subject a nuclear material to an operational-lifetime of radiation damage in a single day whilst observing in real-time at the nano to micro scales. This enables us to understand the complex mechanisms of radiation damage helping to predict the outcomes of prolonged exposure of these materials within a nuclear reactor. The Electron Microscopy and Materials Analysis (EMMA) Research Group at the University of Huddersfield specialises in the investigation of radiation damage in materials using transmission electron microscopy with in situ ion irradiation and is one of the few places in the world that this type of experiment can be performed.
The successful applicant will have the opportunity to use the Microscopes and Ion Accelerators for Materials Investigations (MIAMI) facilities at the University of Huddersfield which combine transmission electron microscopes with ion beam systems to allow in situ studies of radiation damage effects at the nanoscale. This includes use of the new state-of-the-art MIAMI-2 system that has recently been completed with £3.5M funding from the United Kingdom’s Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). The PhD candidate appointed to this fully-funded studentship will work alongside colleagues on existing projects to develop their skills and knowledge before choosing the specific area in which they are most interested in pursuing for their own research. As part of the PhD, the successful candidate will also have the opportunity to travel internationally to conferences and workshops, to meet with other researchers from both academia and industry, and to present their work to the wider nuclear community.

Funding

This project attracts a three year, tax-free stipend of £14,553 per year (for 2018/19) payable every four weeks and tuition fees will be covered at Home/EU rates for three years.

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Outline

Railway vehicle suspension systems are generally complex and non-linear and require regular maintenance to ensure safe and efficient performance. Monitoring of railway vehicle structure health is a key part of maintenance strategy as it can give early warning if a railway vehicle is becoming unsafe. This project aims theoretically and experimentally to detect changes in railway vehicle structure parameters like damping ratio and spring stiffness and study the feasibility of using model analysis technique and data fusion for continuous condition monitoring of railway vehicle structures.
The specific knowledge and experiences needed for the project are as follows:
• Mechanical vibration and noise measurement
• Experimental modal analysis and data fusion
• Artificial intelligence

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Conventional separators (for CO2 and etc) are extremely large facilities measuring upto 30m tall and over 1m in diameter. This occupies significant physical space which is becoming more and more costly. The initial cost of building such facilities is also enormous. Maintenance cost of such physical facilities is also significant.
This project aims to investigate replacing this conventional separator with miniature separator using rotating packed bed (RPB) technology. In theory, this unit can be of desktop size with capabilities similar to that of the conventional separators. This project will develop numerical methods for the separation of CO2. We will investigate different approaches to increase the residence time of the fluid to be processed within the RPB to increase the separation during the process.
This technology can be used to separate CO2 from various sources, such as power plants, industrial furnaces, natural gas production. The separated CO2 can then be sequestrated underground.

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This project will address the following hardware constraints of 5G mm-Wave system:
• The mm-Wave band allows us to pack more antennas in the same place which reduces the antenna aperture, resulting in less power captured by the receiver.
• The wider bandwidth makes the multipath profile sparse, resulting in a large number of resolvable multipath at the receiver. The complexity of the receiver will be extreme if all these multipaths are resolved.
• This wider bandwidth requires an analogue to digital converters (ADC) of higher resolution resulting in a large amount of energy dissipated.
The project will tackle the above issues by designing new signal processing algorithms.
• Proposed signal to noise ratio (SNR) algorithms and the 30 channel will allow rejecting the nearby interferers by the help of angle of arrival (AoA) and angle of departure (AoD) improving the power captured by the receiver.
• New techniques will be proposed where multipaths with higher energy are selected and resolved, resulting in reduced complexity and similar performance.
• ADCs will be designed that will not operate at the Nyquist rate resulting in less power dissipated.

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The aim of this project is to provide a robust methodology for simulating the interaction between failed wheels in turbochargers and the housings designed to contain them. The project will require the use of advanced numerical simulation techniques and the acquisition of validation data by experimental means. The project will include:
•Investigation of the mechanical properties of wheel and housing materials over the range of typical operating temperatures.
•Development of a data bank of burst wheel configurations (i.e. size and shape of fragments) together with wheel speed and materials. This will be based on historical data held at Huddersfield.
•Expansion of the wheel failure data bank based on continued wheel testing.
•Development of experimental techniques to record the burst event and capture wheel fragments following burst to prevent secondary damage.
•Development of finite element models to simulate impact of the wheel fragments with the turbocharger housing. These models will allow for fragments of a range of sizes and shapes, a range of wheel speeds and variable relative position of fragments and housing features at the moment of burst.
•Use of the finite element models combined with stochastic analysis to determine the probability of worst case scenarios occurring.

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The aim of the research work is to develop an inverse design methodology to develop a unique surface profile for a required functional performance (flow behaviour) and hence it will involve development of an algorithm to generate surface profiles from geometrical parameters characterising the surface as well as develop molecular flow model for flow near the wall surface having artificially created roughness and establish quantitative dependence of surface parameters with flow features very close to the wall. Furthermore development of computational fluid dynamic simulations (continuum based) for flow over wall surface and establish quantitative dependence of surface roughness parameters with flow features away from the wall will be an essential part of this project.

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A revolution is facing industry worldwide, through what Germany calls 'Industry 4.0' - smart factory, autonomous manufacturing and bespoke mass-production. The Parliamentary and Scientific Committee in January 2017 debated 'Disruptive Technologies', focussing on artificial intelligence (AI) and autonomous manufacturing, recognised as essential for UK competitiveness. A particular point was the need for more AI specialists to meet this demand, leading to excellent career prospects in this and supporting technologies.
PhD projects focus on achieving major reductions in cost and time for ultra-precision surfaces, required widely by industry, healthcare, science and other sectors, and potentially enabling mass-production of customised parts at no more cost/time than many identical units. The range of projects involves:-
• Applying Al methods to automate decision-making throughout the manufacturing-cycle
• Improving fidelity of in-process data-logging, and surface-measurement between manufacturing process-steps, on which Al decision-making depends
• Improving fidelity of the processes themselves that execute Al decisions
• Robotics to automate process-flow
The projects are multi-disciplinary, range from purely computational, to strongly lab-based. They involve AI techniques, computation and data analysis, engineering design, process-development and measurement methods. MATLAB or C++ would be particularly useful. Students will be well-motivated, numerate, good communicators, and willing to share time between Huddersfield and the OpTIC Centre, N Wales.

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The aim of this project is to establish a new surface characterisation strategy to meet Industry’s requirements to quantify and control the defects on cylinder honed surfaces. To achieve this, following objectives have been set:
• Compare different measurement methods/instrument approaches and develop optimised measurement strategy;
• Investigate suitable filtration methods for cylinder bored surface;
• Investigate areal surface parameters and establish parameter set that can be related to defects;
• Investigate surface parameters and establish parameter set that can be related to tribology performance;
• Develop bespoke parameters for honed surfaces where existing numerical surface descriptors are sub optimal;
• Provide a validated yet flexible tool box of analysis tools to investigate the production and functionality of bore surfaces
This exciting research project is highly industrially relevant and of great scientific interest and therefore will offer the candidate the possibility to establish successful industrial and academic collaborations.

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The aim of the project is to significantly improve surface finish of 3D printed parts and eliminate need for additional post-processing. 3D printing have already revolutionised prototyping and custom manufacturing. Next step in technology development is to improve surface quality and make it comparable with subtracting manufacturing and moulding. This project will focus on numerical modelling of inkjet printing on a powder bed and will use Lattice Boltzmann method for predictive wettability of porous powder bed. This method has proven to be highly successful in static and dynamic wetting and provide unique feature of high fidelity contact angle hysteresis modelling. This project will be collaboration between the University of Huddersfield working on numerical modelling and University of Oxford working in this area on experimental optimisation of 3D printing processes. Main objective will be to develop numerical model and using multi-objective optimisation method analyse and improve surface finish of 3D printed parts.

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Additive manufacturing (AM) is paving its way toward the next industrial revolution. However many technical barriers still hinder its full commercialisation today. One major issue is that AM processes are not robust enough and AM needs measurement methods to control its process. This project aims to develop a set of advanced surface topography analysis techniques for the characterisation of additively manufactured (AM) products. Through characterising AM surface topography, the project will contribute to the optimisation of AM process variables, facilitate the functional evaluation of complex AM components and benefit the accurate geometrical measurement of AM products. The proposed research work include: (1) development of numerical analysis methods, including filtration and segmentation, to extract AM process signature features; (2) investigation of the relevance of area surface texture parameters to AM processes; (3) proposal of new parameters to reflect the unique characteristics of AM surfaces; (4) comparison of various surface metrology techniques for AM surfaces, including tactile, optical and x-ray computed tomography; (5) investigation of the influence of AM roughness texture on dimensional measurement; (6) investigation of the impact of AM process variables on produced surface topography; (7) prediction of AM surface topography in terms of AM process variables.

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This exciting and novel project aims to explore the design and application of tuneable metamaterial topological
insulators for the generation of THz radiation. THz radiation does not occur naturally, hence offering a number of
exciting opportunities for its application in a range of novel technologies, both scientific and commercial.
In this project we aim to engineer a metamaterial that behaves as a topological insulator. An engineered material
that derives its properties from the subwavelength geometry rather than the material composition. Where due to
this topology the system will behave as an insulator in the bulk, but at the surface contains conducting states,
capable of supporting plasmonic excitations. This material will be engineered to give very specific properties, i.e. a
negative refractive index, enabling an electromagnetic wave incident on the surface to transfer energy and
produce a higher harmonic wave. A key, non-trivial, aspect of the research is the characterisation of the material
properties, where we will develop a group theory parameter extraction approach focused around the D
The project will then focus on using the metamaterial topological insulator to develop a vacuum electronic device
capable of creating THz radiation from a commercial available GHz source.

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Recent years has seen the application of advanced surface metrology to the field of matching of bullets and cartridge cases in the field of forensic ballistics. The techniques have proved promising but the efficacy of the bullet and cartridge matching is not presented with and probability statistics. This is in contrast to the way DNA data is presented in court. This PhD project seek to develop statistical methodologies based on techniques such as Bayesian statistics to quantify the quality of ballistic matching data which could be presented in court. The project will be supported by Pyramidal Technologies (Canada) who will provide advanced measurement instrumentation worth £700K in support.

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Recent years has seen the application of advanced surface metrology to the field of matching of bullets and cartridge cases in the field of forensic ballistics. The techniques have proved promising but the quality of data acquisition and more importantly data characterisation/matching need significant improvement. This PhD program will investigate the use of advanced surface data analysis technologies based on wavelet analysis and image analysis techniques. The position would suit a student qualified in Mechanical Engineering, Computer Science or Applied Mathematics. The project will be supported by Forensic Pathways UK who will provide advanced measurement instrumentation worth £500K.

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Auditory source distance (ASD) is an important attribute for the rendering of realistic binaural audio for virtual reality (VR) since it is related to the degree of externalisation (outside-the-head localisation). It is widely accepted that the Direct to Reverberant energy ratio (D/R ratio) is the most effective measure for perceived source distance. However, this measure is only crude as it does not separately treat the two important elements of reverberation: early reflections (up to 80ms) and late reflections (beyond 80ms). These two segments of reflections may have different perceptual roles on ASD and externalisation, but this has not been investigated yet exclusively. Therefore, this project will investigate the independent roles of D/ER and D/LR ratios on perceived distance and externalisation as well as the optimal energy balance between ER and LR in VR audio rendering for headphone reproduction. This will be done for various different room size, source directions and source types. The applicant for this project will have good basic knowledge in acoustics and spatial audio psychoacoustics as well as good programming skills in Matlab and Max. Experience in conducting a subjective listening test and a basic statistical analysis is also required.

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Metrology systems cost is a major challenge inhibiting the uptake of embedded metrology more widely across many areas of manufacturing, particularly in those areas requiring high/ultra-precision. Traditional optical measurement, based on techniques such as interferometry, is often carried out by costly and sizeable instrumentation. Even where efforts have been made to miniaturise measurement technology, the underlying technology is bulk optics, which has a large component and assembly costs.
This project will investigate the creation of optical metrology systems on-a-chip, where monolithic photonic integration will be used to develop light sources, detectors and other sub-components necessary to development truly low-cost miniaturised sensors for the measurement of surface topography, layer thickness and displacement.
Optical design including modelling of components both in-air and in-waveguide will be required to develop front-end probing for the sensor. Gaining and applying a working knowledge of optical metrology techniques will be necessary to feed into the design and development of the monothically integrated photonic sub-components. Electrical and optical performance validation of developed photonic sub-components will also be an important activity. This will lead ultimately to complete systems integration, validation and a prototype device which will require the development of signal processing and calibration techniques prior to demonstration.

Funding

Please see our Scholarships page to find out about funding or studentship options available.

Supervisors

Outline

Self-learning control models are of great interest for a variety of applications. However, their widespread adoption outside academia is partly precluded by the very automation that makes them so attractive; they can arrive at over-constrained solutions, show poor extrapolation performance and lack transparency for future fault diagnosis.
This project will look at the way different types of models, and differently optimised sub-solutions, can be trained for alternative situations. Critically, the project will define methods by which the locally-optimal models can dynamically either interact or replace each other robustly (i.e. not creating discontinuities) and traceably (i.e. allowing visualisation of black box performance with reference to established models). A target application in manufacturing, the thermal compensation of machine tools, will be used as a well-defined case study for this research, but the solution will be more broadly applicable.
The candidate should have a good understanding of self-learning/adaptive control models and thorough understanding of software architecture. An appreciation of manufacturing and measurement is desirable to assist with the proposed test domain.

Funding

Please see our Scholarships page to find out about funding or studentship options available.

Deadline

Supervisors

Outline

This project relates to the prediction of railway track dynamics behaviour under train operation in view of predicting maintenance and design requirements. It requires the development of existing and new numerical modelling techniques, based on multibody system and finite element methods, to better predict track systems behaviour under its various forms (either ballasted or non-ballasted). A wide range of frequency needs to considered depending on associated damage mechanisms and in order to carry out design optimisation of the systems components.
Key aspects of the work will be to develop improved understanding of the way in which the forces exerted by the train are supported and distributed through the rail, sleepers, ballast and substructure. The interdependent role of the subgrade in the performance of track and design characteristics is essential. Likewise improved rail materials have made a big impact on the performance of the rail but there is more to be done and this needs to be matched by improvements in other parts of the system.
Discontinuities which exist at switches and crossings or rail joints as well as transitions zones are also key factors which need to be included in any analysis or model.

Funding

Please see our Scholarships page to find out about funding or studentship options available.

Deadline

Supervisors

Outline

Problem background: The ability of a train to brake effectively in low adhesion conditions is a consequence of the interaction between many train components; wheelsets, wheel-rail contact patch adhesion, dynamic brakes, friction brakes, sanders and brake controllers. In the presence of low adhesion conditions, the reduced accelerations achieved during traction and decelerations during braking, can significantly impact on journey times leading to delays across the network.
Project aim: To optimise the train brake function at low adhesion conditions to avoid wheel damage, minimise braking distance, and minimise the power consumption.
Project objectives:
Develop a model for the current brake systems and validate it using experimental data.
Propose and develop control system to overcome the current brake system problems at low adhesion conditions such as (train speed estimators, adhesion prediction).
Propose a robust control strategy for the Wheel Slide Protection (WSP) to enhance the braking system performance.
Study the feasibility of using electrical system instead of pneumatic system in the train brake system (performance and safety issues).
Build Hardware in the Loop rig to test the developed control strategies.
Candidate should have a degree in Mechanical/Electrical Engineering with strong background at maths and a good knowledge of MATLAB/Simulink software.

Funding

Please see our Scholarships page to find out about funding or studentship options available.

Supervisors

Outline

The unprecedented growth of wireless traffic in recent years has led to the quest of next generation 5G mobile communication networks. The main targets of 5G network are 10-100x data rate, 1OOOx capacity per unit area, 10-100x connected devices, roundtrip latency(« 1ms), 10x energy efficiency, and support for Internet of Things (loT) applications. Motivated by the spectral inefficiency of orthogonal multiple access techniques in current mobile networks, non­ orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) has been recognised as a promising technique to significantly improve spectral efficiency of future wireless networks and is envisionedto be key component of the 5G networks. Power domain NOMA has been highlighted as a key technology to provide NOMA in 5G networks. In power domain NOMA, differentusers are allocated different power levels according to their channel conditions to obtain the maximum gain in system performance. Such power allocation is also beneficial to separate different users, where successive interference cancellation is often used to cancel multi-user interference. This project will develop highly-efficient, low-complexity, single-/ multi-user power domain NOMA transceiver solutions for 5G networks. The project will also focus on the applications of NOMA in loT where it is expected to provide useful results to achieve superior communication.

Funding

Please see our Scholarships page to find out about funding or studentship options available.

Supervisors

Outline

The University of Huddersfield (Department of Engineering and Technology) has recently obtained from Ofcom an experimental licence for TV broadcasting in Ultra High Definition using the new HEVC codec (High Efficiency Video Codec-H265) in the area of Kirklees on Channel UHF 24 (498 MHz). The arrival of HEVC is a logical time for mature European DVB-T markets to consider switching to DVB-T2 and to introduce HEVC encoded services at the same time. The UK, for example, which already uses DVB-T2, would more than double its number of HD channels from 5 per multiplex to around 12 by switching to HEVC, thanks to the combined efficiency of HEVC, DVB-T2 and statistical multiplexing. Germany has recently launched DVB-T2 services with HEVC using the robust indoor reception mode to deliver up to 7 HD channels per multiplex to fixed and mobile receivers. A number of other countries are now actively making plans for combined roll-outs. This project requires knowledge of video processing-compression algorithms and of the DVB-T2 standard for digital television broadcasting. Various reception scenarios and geographical coverage will be investigated experimentally and theoretically during this project.

Funding

Please see our Scholarships page to find out about funding or studentship options available.

Supervisors

Outline

The Institute of Railway Research (IRR) is seeking a candidate to engage in a programme of research that will aim to develop a low-power sensor network for railway applications composed of microprocessors, 2.4GHz radio and various MEMS sensors. The nodes will communicate over a wireless channel and form a multi-hop mesh network. These nodes will harvest their energy by means of various energy sources. The network will employ a protocol stack that is required to take into account the underlying hardware to obtain the correct managed balance between harvested and consumed energy. Security will be a key element; the distributed nature of the network will mean part of it will be vulnerable making cyber security an issue. Therefore all vulnerabilities in the protocol levels, from the physical to the TCP/IP transport layer must be secured. Nodes are likely to have hardware support for ease of update and maintenance rescheduling to keep the infrastructure disruption to a minimum. The primary aim of the system will be to monitor the railway infrastructure with minimum intervention and disruption to the normal running of the network. The candidate must have competence in existing building blocks, such as IEEE 802.15.4 PHY and MAC layers, routing protocols for wireless sensor networks. Competent in programming nodes, proficient in Matlab and have experience developing security applications.

Funding

Please see our Scholarships page to find out about funding or studentship options available.

Supervisors

Outline

Tendons are tough, flexible pieces of connective tissue that connect muscles to the skeleton allowing them to efficiently convert muscular force into movement. Any loss of function of tendons leads to pain and loss of mobility and repair is extremely expensive both for the patient and the NHS.
The aim of this PhD project is to develop a well validated, multi-scale computational representation of tendon, which can be used as a tool to understand tendon physiology and pathophysiology, a framework for encapsulating existing and future experimental data knowledge, and a catalyst for directing future laboratory-based investigation. Once the model is up and running, any combination of parameters can be altered to represent different patient types and tissue damage, and the outcomes assessed. Eventually, the project aims to use the virtual tendon to inform therapy options and assess outcomes.
A candidate with engineering background and interest in applying engineering knowledge in medical and biological application is encouraged to apply for this position. This is a unique opportunity to work with individuals and groups from other disciplines and also develop skills in novel engineering areas such image analysis and computational biomechanics .

Funding

Please see our Scholarships page to find out about funding or studentship options available.

Deadline

Supervisors

Outline

The wheel-rail interface is a mechanically highly stressed aspect of a railway system and as a result represents a safety critical interface between the vehicle and track. The performance of this interface also has an impact on the costs and efficiency of the operation of the railways. Scientific developments are therefore required to improve the theoretical understanding, computer modelling and management of various aspects of wheel-rail contact. These areas include:
• Improved measurement and modelling of wheel-rail contact conditions
• Improved understanding and modelling of wheel-rail damage mechanisms (e.g. rolling contact fatigue, wear, plastic flow, squats, corrugation)
• Improved modelling of friction in the wheel-rail contact
• Modelling the material behavior within the wheel-rail contact
• Influence of adhesion, traction/braking and lubrication on wheel-rail damage
The application of emerging techniques and technologies in lubrication, metallurgy and condition monitoring is also of great interest to understand how these techniques can improve the understanding and performance of the wheel-rail interface.

Funding

Please see our Scholarships page to find out about funding or studentship options available.

Research community

The University of Huddersfield has a thriving research community made up of over 1,350 postgraduate research students. We have students studying on a part-time and full-time basis from all over the world with around 43% from overseas and 57% from the UK.

Research plays an important role in informing all our teaching and learning activities. Through undertaking research our staff remain up-to-date with the latest developments in their field, which means you develop knowledge and skills which are current and relevant to your specialist area.

Research support

The University of Huddersfield has an exciting and comprehensive Researcher Skills Development Programme available to all postgraduate researchers. The Researcher Skills Development Programme supports our researchers to broaden their knowledge, allowing them to access tools and skills which can significantly improve employability, whether in academia or industry. It’s important to develop transferable personal and professional skills alongside the research skills and techniques necessary for your postgraduate study and research. The programme is also mapped onto Vitae’s Researcher Development Framework (RDF), allowing researchers at the University of Huddersfield to benefit from Vitae support as well as our own Programme.

We offer skills training through a programme designed to take advantage of technology platforms as well as face-to-face workshops and courses. The University has subscribed to Epigeum, a programme of on-line research training support designed and managed by staff at Imperial College London which will be accessed via UniLearn, the University’s Virtual Learning Environment.

Facilities

Facilities

Student support

At the University of Huddersfield, you'll find support networks and services to help you get ahead in your studies and social life. Whether you study at undergraduate or postgraduate level, you'll soon discover that you're never far away from our dedicated staff and resources to help you to navigate through your personal student journey. Find out more about all our support services.

Fees and Finance

In 2018/19, the full-time tuition fee for UK and EU postgraduate research students at the University of Huddersfield is £4,280 (see Fees and Finance for exceptions).

Tuition fees will cover the cost of your study at the University as well as charges for registration, tuition, supervision and examinations. For more information about funding, fees and finance for UK/EU students, including what your tuition fee covers, please see Fees and Finance. Please note that tuition fees for subsequent years of study may rise in line with inflation (RPI-X).

If you are interested in studying with us on a part-time basis, please visit our Fees and Finance pages for part-time fee information.

If you are an international student coming to study at the University of Huddersfield, please visit the International Fees and Finance pages for full details of tuition fees and support available.

The University offers a limited number of full and partial fee waivers. If you wish to be considered for a scholarship, please read through the scholarship guidance and include the name of the scholarship on your online application.

Additional programme costs (sometimes known as bench fees) may be charged for research degrees in which there are exceptional costs directly related to the research project. For some subject areas, such as Science and Engineering, these costs could range from £3,000 - £16,000 per year, dependent upon the research project. If you wish to know if these costs will apply to the course you’re interested in, please email the Student Recruitment Team who will direct your query to the relevant department.

Examples of exceptional costs include:

Equipment maintenance costs

Equipment hire

Access costs to specialised equipment

Patient/volunteer expenses

Tissue/cell culture

Special reagents/materials

Purchase of laboratory consumables

Purchases of additional special permanent laboratory equipment

Photography and film processing

Video tape filming, recording, CD archiving

Specialised computation

Travelling costs - where this is integral to the research, it would not normally cover conference attendance except in special circumstances

In 2018/19, the full-time tuition fee for UK and EU postgraduate research students at the University of Huddersfield is £4,280 (see Fees and Finance for exceptions).

Tuition fees will cover the cost of your study at the University as well as charges for registration, tuition, supervision and examinations. For more information about funding, fees and finance for UK/EU students, including what your tuition fee covers, please see Fees and Finance. Please note that tuition fees for subsequent years of study may rise in line with inflation (RPI-X).

If you are interested in studying with us on a part-time basis, please visit our Fees and Finance pages for part-time fee information.

If you are an international student coming to study at the University of Huddersfield, please visit the International Fees and Finance pages for full details of tuition fees and support available.

The University offers a limited number of full and partial fee waivers. If you wish to be considered for a scholarship, please read through the scholarship guidance and include the name of the scholarship on your online application.

Additional programme costs (sometimes known as bench fees) may be charged for research degrees in which there are exceptional costs directly related to the research project. For some subject areas, such as Science and Engineering, these costs could range from £3,000 - £16,000 per year, dependent upon the research project. If you wish to know if these costs will apply to the course you’re interested in, please email the Student Recruitment Team who will direct your query to the relevant department.

Examples of exceptional costs include:

Equipment maintenance costs

Equipment hire

Access costs to specialised equipment

Patient/volunteer expenses

Tissue/cell culture

Special reagents/materials

Purchase of laboratory consumables

Purchases of additional special permanent laboratory equipment

Photography and film processing

Video tape filming, recording, CD archiving

Specialised computation

Travelling costs - where this is integral to the research, it would not normally cover conference attendance except in special circumstances

Important information

We will always try to deliver your course as described on this web page. However, sometimes we may have to make changes to aspects of a course or how it is delivered. We only make these changes if they are for reasons outside of our control, or where they are for our students' benefit. We will let you know about any such changes as soon as possible. Our regulations set out our procedure which we will follow when we need to make any such changes.

When you enrol as a student of the University, your study and time with us will be governed by a framework of regulations, policies and procedures, which form the basis of your agreement with us. These include regulations regarding the assessment of your course, academic integrity, your conduct (including attendance) and disciplinary procedure, fees and finance and compliance with visa requirements (where relevant). It is important that you familiarise yourself with these as you will be asked to agree to abide by them when you join us as a student. You will find a guide to the key terms here, where you will also find links to the full text of each of the regulations, policies and procedures referred to.

The Higher Education Funding Council for England is the principal regulator for the University.